Things are getting even more exciting at the NASA facility in eastern Kern County.

An experimental aircraft exclusively propelled by electric power now in development atNASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center has the potential to revolutionize both general and commercial aviation with its quiet design, its virtual zero-carbon output and incredible improvements in efficiency.

The X-57 demonstrator is actually a radical retrofit of an already existing aircraft, said Matt Kamlet, a public affairs specialist at NASA Armstrong.

"The plane will have a long, skinny wing, designed at (NASA) Langley, with 14 electric motors, two on the wingtips and 12 on the leading edge of the wing," Kamlet said.

The X-plane, so designated by the Air Force due to its experimental nature,will use all 14 motors during takeoff and landing. But at cruising altitude, the props on the 12 smaller motors will stop and fold away until they're needed again.

Battery technology has long been a limiting factor for electric-powered aircraft in terms of how much power they can store, said Tom Rigney, project manager for the X-57. But that is changing.

"We're taking advantage of battery technology that is existing now," Rigney told The Californian on Thursday. "The auto industry has taken the development of batteries to a new level."

A 500 percent increase in power efficiency at cruising speed. A lower cost of aircraft operation. Much quieter. Tiny carbon footprint. And more than 300 horsepower to play with, and a targeted speed of 175 mph.

These are assets that Rigney believes will first impact general aviation, including future use by companies like Uber and others.

Later, smaller commercial flights could make use of the technology and eventually hybrid part electric, part conventional airliners may be developed for long-distance commercial aviation.

The concept began back in 2011, Kamlet said. Then in 2015, engineers at Armstrong, located on Edwards Air Force Base, attached an experimental wing to a big rig and drove it at speed on one of Edwards' dry lake beds to test propeller technology and "lift" for what would later be named the X-57.

"There's no wind tunnel at NASA Armstrong," Kamlet said. "We essentially created our own wind tunnel."

At Scaled Composites in nearby Mojave, engineers are integrating electrical systems into the aircraft. Delivery to NASA is expected soon and the first flight test is expected in 2018, Rigney said.

X-planes have historically pushed the boundaries of aeronautics.

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden highlighted the agencys first X-plane designation in a decade during a speech last year.

"With the return of piloted X-planes to NASAs research capabilities which is a key part of our 10-year-long New Aviation Horizons initiative the general aviation-sized X-57 will take the first step in opening a new era of aviation," Bolden said.

The first X-plane was the X-1, which in 1947 became the first airplane to fly faster than the speed of sound also at the desert base.

X-57 isn't trying to fly faster. Just better.

Steven Mayer can be reached at 661-395-7353. Follow him on Facebook and on Twitter: @semayerTBC.

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NASA in eastern Kern central to development of revolutionary all-electric aircraft - The Bakersfield Californian